Greasing the splines

[Kwikasfuki]

Note: This is how I did the procedure on my bike. It is presented here for informational purposes only.

The videos for bike maintenance finally arrived here in the UK and I decided to grease the splines with Honda Moly 60 paste. (Side note, supplier said Honda no longer made Moly 60. Don't know if its true). My GTR has done 27000 miles and is ridden all year round, baring snow. There is an audible click when on the centre stand when the rear wheel is rotated. Note I said click, not clunk. Most who have an issue with the drive shaft can here a loud clunking sound.

This item is not covered by servicing and is known by the GTR community to be a common fault on the 1400 GTR.

With the video to hand the procedure was easy, but my bike didn't have the markers for lining up the boot. Not a big issue.

Have the bike in neutral. Put a bandage around the front brake and grip so that the front brake is on. There are two bolts that need to be removed. There is a 12mm allen bolt at the top, and a 27mm bolt at the bottom that needs a 14mm allen socket at the rear. The bottom bolt will be covered with black cap.



This is the 14mm allen at the rear. Suggest using a wrench with a long handle to get this off as it is a tough one to get off.

To get the top bolt off, an 8mm allen key and spanner should do the trick.



Loosen, not remove, both bolts first. The rubber boot also needs to be disengaged from the housing. Do this be gently pushing the boot down and back.

Care needs to be taken not to taken out the bolts will nilly as the rear of the housing will just drop. To remove the top boly, lift the housing up, and gently pull out the bolt. There is a spring in the spline that is pushing back continuously and once that top bolt is out, the rear housing will fall back so be prepared to hold it firmly and gently ease it to the ground. Then remove the bottom bolt. Gently remove the housing.

On the bottom bolt there are two spacers which you can see once the housing is removed. Recover these, clean them, and apply some grease to them.

Also note on the picture above the spline that attaches to the rear wheel. This also needs greasing.



Store the housing correctly, otherwise all oil will spill out.



Now onto the front of the drive shaft. Firstly remove the allen bolt supporting the gear lever. Note that there are two washers on this. When refitting you might want to grease this.





Once removed, there are five bolts that need to be removed. These will remove the plate alongside the foot rest. The bolt that screws into the subframe will need medium thread lock.



Now unscrew the bolt that removes the protective cover from the drive shaft.



There is metal coil covering the rubber boot that is also holding the cover in place. Get some pliers and prise open at the top, and remove the coil.



Remove the cover and this is what you're presented with:



The next step is to remove the assembly. Pushing back on the boot reveals the top of the spline. There is a small hole that can be seen though the spine that has a spring loaded mechanism pushing against it. The spline can be rotated by hand to view the hole. The bike needs to be in neutral. Have the hole as the top of the spine as there is a small spring in there. Don't want to be losing that!

Grab a small hair pin or screwdriver and push pin down. Make sure the hole is at the top. Whilst pushing down, gently pull back on the drive shaft and the whole assembly will come out. Remove from housing. Make sure the pin and spring haven't dropped.



This is what it looked like once removed:



Somehow water has managed to get in there and rust part of the shaft. I checked the joints for play and they seemed fine. I got a  brush and cleaned of the rust best I could, and then put a layer of ACF50 on. (Next time I'll have a wire brush to hand). I'm hoping that will prevent any further rust build up. I believe the water has come in through the seal on the cover. Note the rubber seal seems to have a piece ripped off at the end. I applied ACF50 to both joint ends very liberally. I don't know if that was the correct lube to use but it made sense as I wanted to prevent any rust.



The part of the shaft near to the gear box was fine.



And this is how I much grease I applied. Probably more than necessary.





Whilst you're there doing maintenance, some other things you might want to do is clean out the housing and boots.







Reassembly is reverse of removal, but only if it was as easy as that. Remember to realign the hole in the spline with the spring. Push back firmly, and then attempt to pull the spline out. Is should refuse to do so. I knew when mine was in place as the spring mechanism pushed out some of the paste.



When assembling the main housing back, it can get tricky. Remember those spacers? Put them on, and get the axle with the 27mm bolt on first. Note that this goes in from the rear outwards. Do not tighten yet.



Once the assembly goes into the position above, it can be attached to the top mounting. The spring will always attempt to push back. Using one hand, angle the spine and with the other hand push the main housing up gently. Use the spline in the housing (the one the read wheel attaches to) to mesh the splines together. It can take a few attempts. The key here is to angle the spline. Keep on angling and pushing up. It doesn't require too much force - just patience. Once the splines are meshed completely, push up to mate to the top bolt assembly. The spring will be pushing back so hold firm. I have a hydraulic jack which I used to hold it in place whilst I put the bolt through.

Grease the spline that attaches the rear wheel. Do this every time you take the wheel off.

Remember to torque all the bolts and assemble the wheel. Test the brakes as well.

Once assembled, the clicking noise has totally disappeared. Smooth as butter.

[da_boom]

This is worrying. If it's a common fault I would be expecting a recall. The average joe can't be expected to do the procedure above. Is this common on all models or the ealry models only?

Thx for posting - will make useful reference material.

[Kwikasfuki]

In any case I've ordered a new seal for £22
Expensive bit of rubber

[Lonewolf]

NB, can I book mine in with you at 9.30 a week on Wednesday?

;D

[Kwikasfuki]

 :D Only available weekends!

[MGvalerio]

Norman Bates, congratulations for the work done, NOT A Giochetto operation called. My GTR are not in Cardano No clock, but will execute your normal operations, it will now that I think is easier? MGvalerio. ;D

[Kwikasfuki]

from looking at your youtube videsos it shouldn't be a problem for you. I intend to do this every 15000 miles. I replaced the seal today

In Italian
guardando il tuo youtube videsos non dovrebbe essere un problema per voi. Ho intenzione di farlo ogni 15000 km. Ho sostituito la guarnizione di oggi

[MGvalerio]

from looking at your youtube videsos it shouldn't be a problem for you. I intend to do this every 15000 miles. I replaced the seal today

In Italian
guardando il tuo youtube videsos non dovrebbe essere un problema per voi. Ho intenzione di farlo ogni 15000 km. Ho sostituito la guarnizione di oggi

MGvalerio

executed unleash Apartment Cardano, all is ok, it was always well oil, i.e. not dry, only a seal of cover Cardano lower was iron, rebuilt with silicone.aveva rubbed in the joint and created powder of gomma.per isolation of the coupling could do better, if known well, the wheel hub in the top the seal is not well membership, with this is good and so, but as you say, each 15000k maintenance.

Valerio

[MGvalerio]

http://www.youtube.com/v/5jQv3s3n3NM?

[Kwikasfuki]

http://www.youtube.com/v/5jQv3s3n3NM?

Excellent! Do you have the second part which shows the greasing and assembly? Which moly paste did you use? Your spline looks like a better condition than mine.

[Lonewolf]

That was a very informative video. It still looks a bit daunting to me but perhaps I will have a go at doing mine over the winter months when the bike is laid up for the snow.

[da_boom]

Norman & Valentino, how long does the procedure take? From what I have researched this has the potential to be a serious problem if not tackled early. Is the interval of 15000 miles correct?

[MGvalerio]

[ quote = autore Norman Bates link = topic = 77.msg591 # msg591 date = 1.286.220,544 mila ]
[ quote = autore MGvalerio link = topic = 77.msg587 # msg587 date = 1.286.202,229 mila ]
http://www.youtube.com/v/5jQv3s3n3NM ?
[/ quote]

Eccellente! Avete la seconda parte che mostra la lubrificazione e montaggio ? Che pasta moly hai usato? Il tuo spline sembra una condizione migliore della mia.

Il mio cardano non presentava alcun rumore,fatta operazione grazie a te NORMAN,non avrei mai capito come estrarre il cardano,se non si spinge dentro quel forellino una punta come un ago.
Ho usato GRASSO AD ALTE PRESTAZIONI. Non ho fatto filmato di rimontaggio per la semplicità,
ma ora penso di aver sbagliato a non averlo fatto.Io ho rimontato il tutto all inverso di come l'ho smontato,senza nessun piccolo contrattempo,forse fortuna.....?
Valerio. ;)

[MGvalerio]

[ quote = autore da_boom link = topic = 77.msg596 # msg596 date = 1.286.226,753 mila ]

Norman & Valentino, quanto dura la procedura? Da quello che ho studiato questo ha il potenziale [/ i] è un problema grave se non saranno affrontate presto. È l'intervallo di 15 mila miglia corretto?
[/ quote]

La procedura nel mio caso circa 90 minuti.
Ho percorso 28000k e non avrei avuto problemi in futuro.
Se ci sono nella trasmissione dei cloch girando la ruota in senso di marcia,
non conviene aspettare molto.

IL GRASSO ALLA MECCANICA DEGLI ATTRITI, AL DIFUORI DEL MOTORE NON FA MAI MALE.

Valerio

[Kwikasfuki]

La procedura nel mio caso circa 90 minuti.
Ho percorso 28000k e non avrei avuto problemi in futuro.
Se ci sono nella trasmissione dei cloch girando la ruota in senso di marcia,
non conviene aspettare molto.

IL GRASSO ALLA MECCANICA DEGLI ATTRITI, AL DIFUORI DEL MOTORE NON FA MAI MALE.

Valerio

Yes, the pin can get you if you're not aware. It isn't a difficult job but I would recommend that you use Honda Moly 60 paste. Did you also grease the spline which turns the rear wheel? That one should be greased every time you remove the wheel.